


The Wicked Game

by DebonairEffigy



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Internal Conflict, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 12:11:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DebonairEffigy/pseuds/DebonairEffigy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Court of Owls - a secret society headed by wealthy vampires. The Drakes are one of the most prominent families and have taught their son to despise the humans, but a childhood of loneliness and independence has forced Tim Drake to make his own decisions. What he wants is to be human, to be one of the people walking down the street, to not be the monster in the fairy tales.<br/>Jason Todd grew up on Gotham's streets before he became the second Robin, and during that time he saw things other people would never. He hates the vampires that prowl Gotham by night, but a chance encounter with one might just change his opinion - if they have the time left before the League of Shadows destroys everything. The Court of Owls and the League has been at war ever since the Court's inception, but the war is escalating and even Batman may not be enough to save Gotham.<br/>~~~~~~<br/>Okay, so I came up with this idea a while back and didn't realize there were other vampire AU's till I took more time than usual to sort through the feed the other day. I decided to post it, anyways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wicked Game

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: this story will not follow traditional vampire rules, as in: 1) vampires age like humans; 2) vampires are alive, they just cannot survive without the blood of a human (this story does not contain 'vegetarian vampires' - and there'll be more on the human-blood requirement later); 3) vampires can be in the sun, but only for limited amounts of time (they sunburn easily :) Oh, and they don't sparkle. However, I do want the vampires to be a bit more gruesome in other ways like with the original stories. So - violence. Yay.
> 
> Oh, and, like I said, I didn't realize there were some other ongoing vampire AUs (because I'm a dummy) so I hope that this one distinguishes itself as a completely different story. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this.

Three days. Three entire days without a feeding. His hands are shaking, his heart is racing, and his stomach is nauseated. It’s the longest stretch of time Tim has ever managed to make without giving into his ravenous hunger. The pride he’d felt in himself that morning, for having made it so long, has been replaced by disappointment in himself. The self-control he’d exercised in refraining himself from partaking in any feedings is all but gone now. What little ability he has left to think, to rationalize, is quickly fading as well, as his primal instincts begin to take over.

  
Tim stumbles into an alleyway, trying to distance himself from the humans in the street. The last thing he needs is to go ballistic in such a large crowd. Blending into their society is difficult enough as it is.

  
It takes every ounce of self-control Tim has left to move farther into the darkness. He knows that he needs to find someone, anyone, isolated from the rest of Gotham before he loses all ability to control himself. Preferably a criminal who does not deserve the life they’ve been given, because Tim isn’t sure he’ll be able to stop himself once his teeth sink into their veins.

  
All his instincts are painfully aware. The sounds of the city are too loud in his ears, combining with the harsh false light in the streets to create a devastating headache. All around the scent of humans, of food, intermingles with the industrial smells of the city. Tim sways, weakened into a pitiful state. A shadow fleets over the alleyway, turning the grey black for a brief moment, too large to be a bird’s. Tim jerked his head up to catch a glimpse.  
He’s too late to see who it is, but not too late to smell the blood. Fresh. Very fresh. And there’s lots of it. Tim cannot stop himself, cannot even think – only move as all inklings of rationalization leave him and the beast within rears its ugly head.

  
Blood is the only thing that matters now, the only thing in this entire world that makes sense. His mouth is watering even now, as the smell grows fainter and the hunger grows stronger. He doesn’t see, not really, too hyped up on the adrenaline of the hunt to notice what he’s doing. The natural skills he’s been born with are never more useful than they are now, helping him to leap up and grab the bottom of the fire escape on the nearest building in one quick movement.

  
His feet are pounding on the metal steps of the fire escape and before long he is running through the snow that covers the roof. It’s thicker here on the rooftop, where it’s unhindered, but it doesn’t slow him down. Tim leaps over a small alley between buildings, rolling back to his feet, smooth as water, when he reaches the next roof. There are two more alleys before he’s suddenly hit by the smell of fresh blood once more.

  
Tim lets his nose guide him to his nourishment, his lips raising in a predatory grin and revealing his sharp canines. He moves more slowly now, stalking around the rooftop-access building to where he knows he’ll find the precious blood he’s been craving for so long now. He slips into a crouch, and licks his lips one last time, then rushes around the corner –

  
“Got you.”

  
Tim doesn’t even know what’s happening until he’s on the ground, struggling against a net like a trapped fish. Fear strikes through the mad hunger, then anger. Red hot anger that makes him growl and thrash about even more wildly. The man who threw the net stands over him, a smug smile on his fat lips. He takes off a messenger bag that had once been tan, but was now stained russet from whatever it was in there that he’d used to lure Tim.

  
Two others come to join them, a man and a woman. The woman takes one last drag from her cigarette, then flicks it onto the vampire. Tim hisses when it touches his cheek, earning cruel laughter from his captors.

  
“They say you vampires are nothing but animals,” the fat-lipped man drawled, “but I didn’t believe them till now.”

  
Tim cannot think clearly with the ravenous pit in his stomach and the fear that is turning his entire body as cold as the snow he’s lying on. He wrestles with the net that constrains him, useless as it is. The woman kneels next to him, but she’s sure to stay far enough away that he can’t reach her by some miraculous stroke of luck.

  
“Maybe this one is just stupid,” she comments, tilting her head to the side. She grins. “Is that it, sweetheart? Are you just stupid?”

  
If he was lucid, Tim would have a biting remark for her, but his mind is in a panic and all he can do is growl and spit and yell in anger. The other man, the one who had not spoken yet with the edged cross hanging around his neck, puts a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “We need to sedate him, before he can alert the entire city.”

  
“Right,” the woman says, like she’s completely forgotten. She reaches into the deep pocket of her black jacket and pulls out a syringe. “Hold him still, will you? Someone grab his head, too.” The task of restraining Tim’s thrashing falls on the man who’d thrown the net. He’s heavier than his companions and the weight of him is painful when he sits on Tim’s legs and pushes his arms down. The other man is careful when he circles about, feinting his movements so that Tim snaps the air and is vulnerable to his grab. Tim shouts this time, as the man’s cold hands close around his skull and push him down.

  
The needle makes him cry out in pain when it slides into the smooth skin where Tim’s neck meets his collarbone. His assailants almost lose control of him and the woman curses, pushing Fat-lips aside and getting on his chest to keep him down. If there had only been two of them, Tim knew he could have stopped this, but they’d been smart and now some strange formula was entering his system.

  
The woman pulled the syringe out of his neck and, together, they retreated back from the fallen vampire. There is nothing logical left in Tim and he starts screaming and swearing and fighting against the net once more. It’s dimly registering in his mind that it’s too strong for him, that it’s made out of Kevlar, and that it’s locked together somehow, but he is too desperate.

  
Tim doesn’t know how long they let him fight with the net, but soon – too soon – he is too weak to continue. He collapses onto his belly on the snowy roof, too exhausted to move anymore. The humans wait until he is completely still before they move again. Fat-lips hooks his fingers through the net and pulls him up, grunting with the unexpected heaviness that is Tim.

  
The vampire’s lids are drooping closed, so he doesn’t see the figure that appears on the other side of the roof behind his captors. He barely registers the impact when he is dropped back onto the roof, barely notices the heavyset man stumbling backwards and falling onto his rump. His eyes are slipping closed as the newcomer runs across the roof and launches himself at the two that have remained on their feet.

  
~zzz~

  
Jason almost doesn’t have enough self-restraint to keep from sending these people to Hell, but his promise to Bruce is still young and it’d be a shame if he lost that bet with Dick that he wouldn’t last the month without killing someone. Still, he doesn’t stop himself from beating the living shit out of them before tying them up and leaving them for the GCPD. It’s only after he’s sure they won’t be getting up anytime soon that he goes to the unconscious teenager.

  
The boy can’t be more than seventeen. His hair is black as ink, his skin nearly as pale as the snow. Jason hurries to remove the net, wondering how the hell the boy’s attackers had afforded a net made out of Kevlar. Maybe a crime-boss? But Jason hadn’t seen any of the usual tags that criminals who work under the likes of Penguin or Two-Face usually wear. A new gang, then? Jason hopes that these people were alone, but his luck is shit so they probably aren’t.

  
He pulls the net off of the boy, lifting him off the snowy roof to get it completely off of him before settling the boy’s head on his lap. Jason doesn’t like this type of contact, but its freezing cold out and the boy’s going to have pneumonia with his head stuck in the snow like that. Jason checks his pulse, relieved that it’s strong. His gloves leave a smear of blood on the pale skin when they touch his neck, the blood of all three criminals mixed together.

The boy’s lids flutter.

  
“Hey, kid, you alright?” Jason asks, brows furrowed with worry, watching the boy’s face. Suddenly the younger man’s eyes flash open, quickly and automatically like he’s been jolted with electricity. He doesn’t blink, his eyes meeting with Jason’s for one brief second before Jason’s leaping up to his feet and grabbing the gun from his holster.

  
The boy… his eyes… they’re red as blood.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!! ^_^ And yes, this story's title is based off a song because I'm completely at a loss when it comes to titles.


End file.
